d.i.y aromatherapy lavender rice bags

growing up, my mom always had aromatherapy rice bags and bean bags.  i remember popping them in the microwave and giving them a zap to put on sore muscles.  they always felt so good and smelled so good too.

every time ryan and i go to local craft fairs, we see vendors selling homemade aromatherapy rice bags and bean bags.  we always contemplate buying one and then decide against it because they are so darn expensive.  like broken records, we end up walking away saying "we can totally make one of those ourselves."

fast forward several years later, and we keep saying this over and over each time we go to a craft fair.  it has now become a ridiculous running joke with us whenever we see these bags.

this past weekend we had a few hours free before work in the afternoon.  i turned to ryan and said, "oh my gosh, do you know what we should do?  we should finally make one of those bags!"

out to the craft store we went to pick out fabric and pick up dried lavender flowers, followed by a stop at the grocery store for a very large bag of white rice.

we spent our sunday morning doing this project and are so thrilled with way it turned out (and how little it cost).  by no means do i think i'm an expert crafter or sewer.  i have some basic sewing skills at best, but if i can figure this out with no pattern, then anyone can do it.  here's what we did . . .

we picked out two fabrics.  we chose plain white for the inside lining and a cute pattern for the outside of the bag.  since we are so cheap, we bought fabric that was in the clearance bin.  we found two bags of dried lavender flowers at our local craft store and used 50% off coupons on them.  at the grocery store, we bought a 10 pound bag of plain white rice.

we eyeballed the fabric to see how big we wanted the bags to be.  we knew we wanted one that was a long rectangle big enough to fit across our broad shoulders.  we also wanted two smaller squares too.

we put the outside lining facing itself sandwiched between two pieces of white inside lining fabric.  we sewed all four sides, leaving a little hole in order to turn the fabric back right-side out, and cut off the excess fabric.

we turned the fabric right-side out and used a dull butter knife to push the edges out to make right angles.

we used a funnel to pour the rice into the bag through the opening that was left.

after pouring in the rice, we used the funnel to pour in the dried lavender flowers before hand sewing up the small hole.

in total, we made three bags.  the long rectangle is 20 x 8 inches.  it's long enough to drape over our shoulders, to run down the center of our backs, or to fit around our lower backs.  this bag used 5 pounds of rice and 0.4 ounces of dried lavender flowers.

the smaller square bags are 9 x 7 inches each.  they are perfect for a little body part that is sore.  each of the smaller bags used 2.5 pounds of rice and 0.2 ounces of dried lavender flowers.

all together, we made three of these aromatherapy lavender rice bags for a total cost of $12!

once they are all done, all you have to do is pop them in the microwave to heat them up.  the smell of the lavender will make your mind relax and the warm rice will help any aching body part.  (they're also great as little heating pads to keep you warm in the cold weather too!)

love, laurie

lunch at the reading terminal market

while we were in philly last week at the flower show (here and here), we went across the street to the reading terminal market to grab lunch.  i've heard so much about the market for years, but have never been there before.  it was incredibly crowded for lunch since the flower show was going on and there were several conferences happening as well.  we had to wait in some long lines, but scored a great slice of pizza with mediterranean salad on top, burgers with seasoned crinkle fries, a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie, and some great (and inexpensive) produce.  i'd love to go back to the market on a much-less busy day.  there sure were a lot of interesting booths and vendors.

love, laurie

a trip to the 2018 philadelphia flower show - part 2

a few more photos from our trip to the philadelphia flower show this week.  we had a great time and were pleasantly surprised to take home some fun freebies too, including: sunflower seeds from the show, pansies from one of our tour guides, and some tv station swag from the folks who organized the trip.

love, laurie

a trip to the 2018 philadelphia flower show - part 1

it has been 6 years since ryan and i have been to the philadelphia flower show.  we weren't necessarily planning on going this year, but my dad entered us into a contest run by our local tv station, and my name was chosen as a winner for 2 free tickets!

we went to the tv station bright and early on monday morning and met the other winners for a tour of the station before boarding a bus bound for philly.  my parents drove down and met us in philly so we could spend the day together walking around the flower show.

the theme of this year's show was "wonders of water."  after the very rough winter that we have had this year, it was so nice to see all of the brightly colored flowers!  even though the flower show was incredibly busy, we had a great time walking around the show with my parents.  (thanks, dad, for entering us into the contest each and every day!)  here are a few photos from the flower show . . .

love, laurie

here we snow again . . .

friday's snow storm crippled most of our area.  as if that wasn't bad enough, we are forecasted to get yet another big snow storm today!  it started snowing lightly this morning and began sticking to trees.  we are supposed to see the worst of it this afternoon and evening.  i'm keeping my fingers crossed that the meteorologists are wrong and that this storm misses us.  i dread the idea of having to shovel our house out again!

spring, where are you?!

love, laurie

weekend snapshots . . .

a few photos of . . . kitten cuddles late at night, seeing a musical at our alma mater, trying out the new burt's bees line of makeup (!!!), and ryan's favorite pose that leko does which always makes him melt.

love, laurie

happy retirement!

the month of march sure came in like a lion and our area really got hit hard by the winter storm that came on friday.  we got around 8 inches of snow, but that was nothing compared to my parents who got 24 inches of snow and who have not had electricity for 4 days and counting!  on sunday afternoon, my parents were finally able to drive out of their snow war zone and up to our house to take hot showers and to cook all of the food that was in their fridge. 

while they were up, it was the perfect time to celebrate my papa who officially retired as of march 1st.  we had lunch and then enjoyed some cannoli cupcakes for dessert. 

even though i wish my parents didn't have to get hit so hard by that crazy storm, it was still a really nice excuse to see them on sunday!  happy retirement, papa!

love, laurie

cat and (computer) mouse

on sunday afternoon, i was sitting at the desk typing on the computer in an effort to get a few things off my to-do list before the work week began.  all of a sudden, leko jumped up and sat on the mouse, with his tail across the keyboard, in order to get a drink of water out of my water glass.  what i silly guy.

have a great weekend!

love, laurie

peanut butter banana bread

goodness gracious!  i truly cannot believe that the last time i posted a recipe on the blog was all the way back in july and here we are on the first day of march!  that's a record.  it's not that i haven't been making all sorts of delicious things in the past 8 months, it's just that i've been so incredibly busy that i haven't had a chance to take a single picture of anything that i've made.  sad, for sure.

on sunday i was looking around my kitchen and sighed as my eyes fell on 3 overly ripe bananas sitting on the counter.  i love bananas and had high hopes for this bunch when i bought them at the grocery store last weekend, but the weather was so back-and-forth that i think those silly bananas got confused and turned ripe too fast.  sure, we'll blame it on the weather.

what does one do with ripe bananas?  make banana bread, of course.  i absolutely love banana bread in every format.  there is something nostalgic about banana walnut muffins, and something cozy about a slice of banana bread from a loaf.  i knew i wanted to make a loaf of banana bread, but i wanted to change it up a bit and do something different from the traditional chopped walnuts in it.  thus, peanut butter.

peanut butter and banana is one of those classic combinations that i go back to again and again because it never lets me down.  march 1st is national peanut butter lovers day, by the way!  this was the first time i added peanut butter to the batter of my banana bread and let me tell you, it did not disappoint!

as soon as you slice into this loaf it has such a wonderful peanut butter smell.  the taste of the peanut butter is subtle and gives the banana bread a nice little added something.  it's a surprisingly light and fluffy bread too!

ps: the cute place mat that is under the loaf was made by ryan's aunt sandy.  she sure is great when it comes to sewing projects!

peanut butter banana bread
prep time: 10 minutes
baking time: 1 hour
yields: 1 loaf
adapted from love and olive oil

ingredients:
6 tablespoons salted butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

directions:
preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar.  add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each.  beat in the vanilla and mashed bananas.  in a microwave warm the peanut butter for 45-50 seconds until slightly melted.  add the peanut butter to the batter and beat well.  sift the dry ingredients into the batter and mix just until incorporated.

pour the batter into a loaf pan that is greased lined with parchment paper.  bake for 1 hour until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the bread comes out clean.  allow the bread to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing the loaf from the pan and transferring it to a wire rack to finish cooling.

enjoy!

love, laurie